Book Description

Magnum photographer Steve McCurry has beautifully and evocatively photographed the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, among the world's most impressive monuments. Over one hundred of his images of the site are collected in this stunning book, which documents a magical world of carved gods, weathered masonry, tangled vegetation and orange-robed monks. Angkor was the capital of the Khmer rulers from the end of the ninth century until the mid-fifteenth. Each built a state temple at the capital, surrounded by walls, moats and embankments laid out in accordance with cosmological precepts. Designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the temples attract tourists, archaeologists and art historians, and are also a pilgrimage destination for Buddhist monks. McCurry first visited Angkor on assignment for National Geographic magazine, for whom he has photographed all over the world. He has made many return visits, capturing a sublime portrait of the buildings, sculpture and people of Angkor. Winner of numerous

honours, including first prize in the World Press awards and the Robert Capa Gold Medal, McCurry has previously published Portraits and South Southeast (both with Phaidon).

The photographs are accompanied by an informative introduction on the history and meaning of Angkor by John Guy, a leading authority on the cultural history of Southeast Asia. Guy is curator of Indian and Southeast Asian sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and Consultant to UNESCO on historical monuments in Southeast Asia. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

an excellent photographic work
Sactuary,the Temples of Angkor is an excellent photographic book. Steve McCurry has captured the most breathtaking shots of Angkor Wat and many other great pictures surounding the Angkor site. I really like the book and earlier this year i have added this book to my collection. In addition i like to point out a little mistake of this book particularly not by Steve McCurry himself but rather by the author of the introduction of the book. Mr. John Guy. As he writes 'Nak Pa',it is the belief of ancestral worship the local Khmer people practiced before Angkor era and still do today. This pratice is recognised today in Cambodia as 'Nak Ta' not 'Nak Pa'. So instead of 'Pa' is 'Ta'. 'Ta' is a word in Khmer also used to address your father's father which is your granfather. The word 'Nak' means a 'person'. So 'Nak-ta' clearly means an ancestor person, its a combination of the two words Nak and Ta. The word 'Pa' has no meaning in Khmer. However 'Pa' is used from the colonial period to call a father. It is usually used by high class people when french is introduced to Cambodia, mainly the ones who worked for the government. So clearly it is an European word for father. The word for father in Khmer is something else. But otherwise it is a fantastic book to buy for displaying on your coffee table as part of your collection.

mr. hyamdara
Sactuary,the Temples of Angkor is an excellent photographic book. Steve McCurry has captured the most breathtaking shots of Angkor Wat and many other great pictures surounding the Angkor site. I really like the book and earlier this year i have added this book to my collection. In addition i like to point out a little mistake of this book particularly not by Steve McCurry himself but rather by the author of the introduction of the book. Mr. John Guy. As he writes 'Nak Pa',it is the belief of ancestral worship the local Khmer people practiced before Angkor era and still do today. This pratice is recognised today in Cambodia as 'Nak Ta' not 'Nak Pa'. So instead of 'Pa' is 'Ta'. 'Ta' is a word in Khmer also used to address your father's father which is your granfather. The word 'Nak' means a 'person'. So 'Nak-ta' clearly means an ancestor person, its a combination of the two words Nak and Ta. The word 'Pa' has no meaning in Khmer. However 'Pa' is used from the colonial period to call a father. It is usually used by high class people when french is introduced to Cambodia, mainly the ones who worked for the government. So clearly it is an European word for father. The word for father in Khmer is something else. But otherwise it is a fantastic book to buy for displaying on your coffee table as part of your collection.

Masterpiece
Steve McCurry has a deep and abiding respect for his subjects and this book reflects the passion he has for peoples around the world.
WELL DONE, Mr. McCurry!

Breathtaking shots from a master photographer
Having recently returned from a trip to southeast Asia, and having the once in a life time opportunity to explore the Angkor ruins near Siem Reap, Steve McCurry's magnificent photos brought back immediately the intense experiences I had from my short visit. The reader will be amazed at some of these images and like me will ask, "how on earth did he pull off a shot like that?" Unlike other books on Angkor, the photographer focuses mostly on the people, in particular the monks and nuns, who reside near these beautiful ruins. I found the quality of the paper and the picture reproduction excellent. The only drawback is the small format of the book, and the lack of explanations of the photos. This is a must book for those who enjoy looking at beautiful photographs, or for those interested in southeast Asia.

Excellent book
Preparing for a trip to Thailand and Cambodia I purchased many books related to these places. "Sanctuary..." fortunately arrived only after I had returned from my trip. Some of the books I own have excellent pictures and great text, but Steve McCurry's Sanctuary, with its great and mundane, realistic photographies made me feel back in Angkor. Angkor is one of the most beautiful places on earth and this book is the closer you can get if you don't have the chance to make it there. ... Read more

Book Description

Foreword by Michael Downey

Cistercian Europe offers a lavishly illustrated journey through Europe's magnificent Cistercian abbeys. A leading expert in medieval architecture, Terryl Kinder brings these famous monasteries to life, showing not only where monks lived, worked, and prayed, but also how the exquisite architecture of these buildings reflects the spiritual transformation to which their residents aspired.

Dozens of famous Cistercian monasteries from across Europe have been chosen to illustrate the wide variety of forms and functions. With informed and engaging text Kinder places these monasteries squarely within the context of daily monastic life in the Middle Ages, describing the use for each abbey building, the reasons underlying the desire for simplicity, and the nature of the contemplative life they were designed to model. Maps, floor plans, and more than two hundred full-color and black-and-white photographs support the text. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

B. Weber revolutionized the meaning of poor images into arts
As with most of Bruce Weber's books, his style is the same from the beginning and had not changed a bit. Though I admire many of his good works (and in fact had purchased a lot of his expensive books), a good 70% of images in his books were the same type of images we discard at photo school developing labs and the same type of images our instructors at Photo 1 asked us to improve. Reasons: out of focus, bad composition, low quality grainy and muddy images. Well, it's the name that sells, you know. It takes a lot to be Bruce Weber. Honestly, his works for Abercrombie and Fitch were much better than the books. If I were to make a name like my idol, my works will sell, as well. And I am not kidding.

Good book by Weber but pricey
As a photographer who really looks up to and loves the work of Bruce Weber, I know I have a strong bias for anything he does. However, this book is a great look inside Weber's world and is godo with the interviews as well. My only problem is the price, ... there are probably better books for those that really get into Weber photography and are looking to maybe buy just one book, such as the out of print Chop Suey Club, etc., that even cover his work with Abercrombie and Fitch, and are cheaper at the same time. I would only recommend this book for someone who wants to know more than your basics about what Weber is about, and price is not an issue, otherwise go for it! ... Read more

Book Description

In the early 1950's, John Szarkowski photographed the major buildings of turn-of-the-century Chicago architect Louis Sullivan.Now, in presenting his photographs with excerpts from Sullivan's writings and contemporary sources, he captures the mind, the spirit, and the time of this great architect. ... Read more

Amazon.com

There are many surprises among the 53 black-and-white photographs in Stanley Greenberg's hymn to the hum of the city that never sleeps. There is a revealing shot of the roof structure above the curved vault of Grand Central Station's night-sky ceiling that shows where those light bulbs are screwed in to form the delicate constellations commuters see every day. The anchorages of several city bridges--the chambers where the powerful cables that hold up the roadways are fastened down--are exposed to view, peeling paint, trash, and all. There is a gleaming shot of a working Con Edison turbine and a cluttered view of a derelict power station at Floyd Bennett Field, the city's first municipally owned commercial airport.

The pictures possess a certain sameness after the first 20 or so, but New York has been immortalized by many of history's very best photographers, so Greenberg has a tough act to follow. He has good company as he searches for a new angle, however, including Laura Rosen, whose Manhattan Shores is an equally quirky but richly satisfying and illuminating trek around the edges of the island, and Horst Hamann, whose New York Vertical has become an instant classic. Anyone who likes the idea of exploring the city's underpinnings instead of the subways, piers, or buildings themselves will love Invisible New York, which also contains an index in which Greenberg imparts fascinating information about each site. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Photographic Elegy To New York City's Technological Past
"Invisible New York" is a splendid collection of photographs which pay tribute to New York City's technological past. Stanley Greenberg's large format camera yields dignified, poetic images of long-forgotten historic structures throughout the city. These range from beautiful pictures of bridge supports and hidden passageways to a deserted building at Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, once the city's primary airport. Although others have found New York City's architecture to be a rich source of photographic imagery, few have been as tenacious as Stanley Greenberg in creating stunningly beautiful visual poetry. I must commend Johns Hopkins University Press for publishing this beautiful tome of black and white photographs and keeping it in print. I eagerly look forward to seeing Greenberg's next book, which I think may be on a recent project documenting New York City's water supply system. He is surely one of the most distinguished photographers ever to have graduated from New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School.

Quite simply, a beautiful book...
I have an obsession with abandoned buildings. They are a place I know I can go to be alone because no one visits them anymore but the spirits of those who brought life to the buildings as more than just concrete and steel still linger.

It gives one a time to reflect on the temporality of our lives and the finiteness not only of our beings, but of our dreams and visions. It gives us pause to reflect on what is important and profound about life.

When we are in these places we are really inside of parts of ourselves we don't recognize.

An excellent study of virtually unknown parts of N.Y.C.
This book lived up to my expectations with it's beautiful photographs, insightful comments about each location photographed and rich, deep printing. A great book for anyone interested in wonderful black and white location photography, or in learning more about New York City and its' surroundings. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy read introduction into american urban landscapes
This is really a nice book. It reads very well and gives a good introduction over major landscape elements in urban and suburban. It also includes background information about the historical development of these landscape elements. That makes it quite easy to understand the urban and suburban landscape in the U.S.. It is one of these books that you read and think "aah, that's why...". A good and cheap present for landscape architects and students (nice paper, layout and format, too). ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Lighthouses are an icon of a simpler, more romantic era, which partly explains why they are so wellloved today. Unlike many other countries, France has resisted the trend toward total automation, and in many small ports and seaside towns, the lighthouse keeper is still a wellknown and respected figure. World renowned lighthouse photographer Jean Guichard's famously dramatic photographs of storms at sea illustrate only too well the perilous working conditions the lighthouse keepers face, and the text by Rene Gast provides a fascinating glimpse into the daily lives of these men and women, whose determination and nerves of steel have saved countless lives over the centuries.Even the workmen who built these technological marvels risked their lives with every wave, and had to be strapped bellydown on the rock to avoid being washed away. Today, the job still requires a great deal of nerve, shown in the many photographs of the lighthouses where keepers are still winched down to the deck of the relief boat by hand, dangling from ropes over crashing seas.The book also contains reproductions of a number of historical documents about lighthouses: vintage photographs and etchings, extracts from logbooks, and architectural drawings detailing the development in lighthouse and navigational engineering.Lighthouses of France is a wonderfully romantic photographic tribute to lighthouses and to the bravery and dedication of their keepers.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

BUY THIS BOOK NOW
This massive hardcover book is the perfect compliment to it's big brother (North Atlantic Lighthouses. Both these books are the collective works of the worlds best lighthouse photographer (Jean Guichard). This is the man who uses analogue techniques and is not a Photoshop convert. (He's the man who brought you the famous photo of the lighthouse keeper who nearly gets hit by the wave.)

The difference between this book and "North Atlantic Lighthouses" is that North Atlantic deals with the... ...North Atlantic(USA, Canada, Iceland, Scotland, England and Wales, Ireland, and France) while "Lighthouses of France" deals with... ...French lighthouses only.

BUT, If your like me then the French lighthouses are the most attractive, alluring and charming lighthouses in the world. Lighthouses such as the famous La Jument (the mare), Le Four (the oven), Pierres Noires (Black Rocks). The book displays historic pictures which you won't see elsewhere (e.g. shots of relief of the keepers at Ar-Men.) You will also get the entire sequence of the wave and the keeper at La Jument. (Including the shot that everyone wants to see, "the aftermath", this is the shot that shows the keepers fate. It's located on page 92, my tip is take a close look at the doorway.

Generally lighthouse books such as this have text accompanying it explaining the various lighthouses. Most books are very factual giving details such as tower hight, beacon type/colour, signal time, ect... (this is what happens in the other book North Atlantic Lighthouses, where the text is by Ken Trethewey). The information in that book is generally very interesting although it comes up a very distant second to the magnificent photos.

Well in Lighthouses of France the text (by Rene Gast) is no distant second. Hell it's right up there on par with the photos. The text doesn't deal with the lighthouses directly. It mainly deals with the keepers and their interactions with these beacons of the sea. You'll get a taste for what it was like to build, man and maintain these monuments.

The stories that are retold will astound, amaze and horrify. Find out what it's like to be one of the two keepers at Kereon on December 16th, 1989 at 6:10pm. When the two portholes in the kitchen were hit by an enormous wave,(where they were watching TV at the time) during a horrific storm. Read on as all the furniture is washed out the front door. A quote from Jean-Pierre Lecuq "we could hear the breakers forming about five hundred meters out. It sounded like a thousand bulldozers coming to crush us, then came the deafening crash of the wave exploding against the tower, which in fifteen years' service I had never seen shudder like that."

Basically RIVETING reading JAW DROPPING Photos. BUY IT NOW... A TREASURE... ... Read more

Book Description

Overlooked for nearly two centuries, New York's manhole covers are at last brought to the forefront in this book, which traces the evolution of their intricate designs and styles, and recounts the history of the city's iron foundries that produced them. Through meticulous documentation, intriguing history bites, and three hundred photographs, Stuart demonstrates how these mainstays of city life, once thought of as mere utilitarian street hardware, are actually sophisticated works of cast-iron art. A fascinating element of New York's streetscape, these decorative manhole covers are an inspiring reflection of the creativity and attention of the foundries themselves and, sadly, a dwindling relic of New York's architectural history.

Historians, design professionals, antiques collectors, and sightseers will find this an inspiring glimpse into a form of artwork nearly lost to urban renewal, as well as encouragement for the reintroduction of such innovative designs in civic planning. (5 1/2 x 9 1/2, 128 pages, b&w photos)

Diana Stuart is a former advertising executive who is devoted to documenting architectural details in the five boroughs of her beloved native city. She lives in New York City. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Modernism/Japanese photography
Iwao began his career at the Bauhaus as an architecture student but switched to the photography section producing architectural photos, portraits, still lifes, and photomontages. His method was influenced by Moholy-Nagy and Peterhans. This is the first monograph devoted to Iwao. I echo other reviewers' comments about the quality of this edition. A very interesting volume for individuals interested in the Bauhaus, modernism, or the history of Japanese photography.

Wonderful Find
Being unfamiliar with this Japanese (or, Japanese-American?) photographer I was delighted to come across his book while on a recent trip to New York.Much of it consists of architectural photographs, while other pictures focus on people on the street and at various interior locations.I foundYamawaki's style both sophisticated and inspiring.There isn't much thatcan be done in fine art photography that one could desribe as"new", but Yamawaki does bring a refreshing and idiosyncraticallyinteresting style to his work.And, Steidl is to be commended for itswonderful presentation of Yamawaki's work.I'm becoming a huge fan of thispublisher - especially in light of its reasonable prices.This book ishighly recommended. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Robert Polidori's Havana is a haunting city of sherbet colors and peeling stucco, grand colonial architecture in decay, and real people who hang their laundry across a lofty foyer in an old mansion. Polidori's photographs, which fill the pages of this beautiful, oversized book, appear without comment, yet it is impossible to miss the affection and melancholy of his highly personal vision. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Robert Polidori: Havana
Visceral images of a unique city, in which splendor and squalor are juxtaposed, and the past is suspended within the present, decaying yet enduring. Robert Polidori has captured the beauty and melancholy of Havana, gazing unflinchingly at the ruins and the people who inhabit them. When the boycott is finally lifted, all this will be swept away by a tide of new development, so try to see it now and use this wonderful book as an introduction and a lasting memento. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

spectacular photos
These photos are breathtakingly spectacular. As soon as I saw this book, I had to buy it. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything that captures exactly what being in Cuba feels like: as if you were witnessing the beautiful ruins of a decaying Roman empire. It's the most spectacular, cinematic misery you could ever experience. And I'm glad that someone like Robert Polidori has captured it so faithfully before it all crumbles to the ground (or gets built over with hideous concrete Spanish hotels).

Poignantly, achingly beautiful
In these urban landscapes of contemporary Havana, Polidori captures on film the spectacular ruin of a vibrant culture living on faded memories of past opulence. The overwhelming feeling I got from viewing these photographs was that these people deserve so much better than this. This work is visually stunning, but it goes beyond art. It holds up a slice of the Cuban soul for the world to see and weep for.

Melancholia made graphic
This is an extraordinarily beautiful book, extraordinarily well produced. Polidori is a graphic poet.

But then, what is it all about? No travel book, this.

There was a grand city, with grand, refined living, there was a sense of the visual, even in the simplest laying of stone upon a stone. The photographs attest to that. The grace, like the decay, is real. The rich, varied hues are real, if from fraying, unretouched paint, destined to change and pale with each passing day. Polidori's colors are not meant to be restored nor will ever there be a patina to be cleaned. Their destiny is to fade. One would like to think of this Havana as a grand opera set for a Nozze or an Ariadne where protagonists move like ghosts among the ruins, talking of betrayals, regrets and happy loves that are now merely wise. For some of us, that it is. For some of us it is the stones that are real, the peeling paint and the broken down chandeliers. People are the interlopers, people are like things, being where they do not belong. Yet in a grander sense those of us may be self-deceived. For in these pictures there is no real tension between flesh and wall. The grandiloquent decay, like an ever swelling musty velvet cape, gathers crumbling stone to unweeded garden to limpid sky to people ...... all into a deeply bundled melancholic recessional that will swallow everything and leave only moonless night behind. There is no future in this past, perhaps the most melancholy conjecture of all. It seems to me most photographs are lit by the late afternoon sun. The beauty makes one cry, we see our lives in the peeling paint and broken balustrades, the broken window frames, cracked marble, the rusted iron gates ....perhaps nowhere more than in the curious compromises of antiquated artifacts for everyday living pragmatically juxtaposed to broken down rococo splendor or dismembered bourgeois grandeur, trying to make do but never quite. This is brutally the passage of time with no attempt at cosmetic dissimulation or philosophical delay. We are all beyond reflection. Each picture seems to say unequivocally: all this has passed and all this will pass. Perhaps Havana has come to an old preordained denouement, arrived at a culmination old and forgotten, in the event, a summit, an end: Havana as a place never meant to truly be, a creature of our dreams, an incantation..... Wallace Stevens who only visited the Havana of the mind, wrote in "Academic Discourse in Havana" (1936):

"This may be benediction, sepulcher, and epitaph......
An infinite incantation of our selves
In the grand decadence of the perished swans."

A spanish colonial beauty
Even in decay, the colorful bells of Havana still shine. The richness of the color and history and architecture is astounding. I purchased two copies of this book one for myself and one for a friend. ... Read more

Book Description

The loft is the residential image most identified with New York. Originally popularized by artists and designers, the enormous raw spaces have been laboratories for the creativity of architects and designers. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great resource.
I just purchased 4 books on lofts and this one had the widest range and most current pictures of well-designed lofts. Mostly pictoral--many creative ideas and approaches to this unique type of living space.

One of the greatest
Short on words, but long on inspiration, this book is fabulous. If you want a book on lofts, this is it. From stark minimilism to chic downtown habitats, this book is for those that love lofts. You will love it!

Exemplary book and photos of NYC loft living
Some of the best examples of innovative design and material usage in loft construction/renovation.

Superb! A Bargain at twice the price!
The best book published on loft spaces in Manhattan! Rus is the Vreeland of the interior design world!

For loft living enthusiasts, this is your pictorial book. .
This book focuses on the architectural realm of the loft apartment. Unfortunately it does not contain many pictures of different lofts that are lived in. Instead it focuses on the architectural design, which is quite interesting if you own or are interested in this living environment. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Outstanding
As usual Randy's books are tops. His photography, sidebars and careful attention to details are unsurpassed. You can almost hear the hammers falling in the barn raising chapters. Recommended to all lovers of the vanishing scene. ... Read more

Book Description

Following up on the successful book 25 Houses under 2500 Square Feet, this title will continue to explore, though case studies, the joys of living in compact, well designed homes. The 25 houses presented in the book offer an extraordinary range of architectural solutions for designing functional yet exciting, dramatic living spaces within a small envelope. The houses will range in size from a few hundred square feet up to 1500 square feet of heated space. As with 25 Houses, projects will be located throughout the United States with some coming from Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.

Readers interested in building a primary residence, a weekend getaway, or a guest house will discover how architects, through the innovative use of common building materials and careful attention to space and light, are able to create dwellings that belie their small size.

The projects were selected for their excellence in design, innovative use of materials and methods of construction, each house comprises a case study that includes interior and exterior photography by some of the finest architectural photographers working today; drawings including site plans, details, and floor plans; and concise, informative text that highlights the design and technical aspects of the house.

Architects and architectural firms to be featured include: Lake/Flato, Olson Sunberg Kundig Allen, Archi-Tonics, Via Architecture, Dean/Wolf, Belmont Freeman,Hanrahan and Meyers, AC2, Frank Harmon.

Book Description

Eugene Atget’s photographs of Paris between 1898 and 1927 form the bedrock of an American modernist photographic vision. In 1927, Berenice Abbott, one of the century’s most renowned photographers in her own right, became the largest collector of Atget’s work when she purchased his estate. For the next 40 years (1929–1969), Abbott devoted much of her creative life to popularizing the work of Atget. Representing her vision of Atget’s tapestry of Parisian life, this book reproduces and discusses the rare prints created by Abbott from Atget negatives — one of the few instances of one great photographer printing another great photographer’s work. Over 100 duotone photos are featured, some of which Abbott developed from previously unpublished Atget negatives. "The Atget prints are ... a rare and subtle perception, and represent perhaps the earliest expression of true photographic art." — Ansel Adams ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A beautiful book, but not the final word
This handsome book will appeal to Atget fans and photography collectors. It presents ninety nine photographs printed posthumously by the American artist Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) from the negatives made by the French photographer Eugene Atget (1857-1927). It also reprints one of Abbott's 1928 portraits of Atget and her long-out-of-print 1964 essay "The World of Atget." Finally, it includes a quasi-scholarly essay by Clark Worswick, who is a collector and curator of photography.

Atget fanatics will find this publication worth owning for two reasons. First, it includes several images that have not previously appeared in print. (Worswick claims that the book includes 39 previously unpublished works, although I quickly found at least two of these "previously unpublished" works reproduced elsewhere.) Perhaps the only truly novel image among these previously unpublished photographs is an image that Atget copied from an unidentified book, of a female nude standing with her back to the camera, leaning awkwardly against a wall. The book from which he appropriated the image left a ghost of illegible text, suggesting that the nude might have originally appeared in some academic text, perhaps a book about medicine or anthropology. The fact that both Atget (a heterosexual seller of documents to artists), and Abbott (a lesbian art photographer), found this image worth owning demonstrates how easily individual photographs can serve various professional and personal purposes: as scientific evidence, as models for artists and, perhaps, as pornography. However, for the most part, Atget fans will find little that is unfamiliar in these "previously unpublished" images. The rest simply expand the repertoire of themes already familiar in Atget's work, including parks with their statuary, trees and plants; alleys, streets and river scenes (both with and without street workers, merchants and shop fronts); and farmers working the fields.

The second reason that Atget fans might want to own this book is Worswick's essay. It is the first one devoted to an in-depth discussion of Abbott and Atget. Worswick writes with great skill, weaving together the biographies of these two photographers, whose lives intersected only briefly in the late 1920s, but whose critical acclaim has become forever intertwined. The text is engaging and at times catty, judgmental and illuminating, with threads that flow seamlessly between two continents and through the better part of a century. Perhaps Worswick's most important contribution to the already extensive literature on Atget is his account of the events of 1968 (as told to him by Peter Bunnell), when Abbott, after forty years of patiently preserving and enthusiastically promoting Atget's collection, sold it for a paltry sum to the Museum of Modern Art.

Regrettably, though, Worswick's research was far from thorough, leaving more than mere scraps for later scholars. The scope of this project clearly reflects his financial interest in this collection. Apparently he sees himself as a modern incarnation of Abbott-as-Don-Quixote, tilting at the aesthetic and financial neglect that the Abbott/Atget prints have long received. Not surprisingly, his essay emphasizes Abbott's long devotion to Atget's work despite the critical and financial neglect of others. But, as a result, his essay neglects or glosses over other interesting topics, including the differences between Atget and Abbott's work, which Abbott herself spelled out explicitly in a letter to Ansel Adams in 1940. Obviously, Worswick did not bother to visit Abbott's archives, now in private hands (though accessible to scholars), where this letter to Adams is preserved. Among the other relevant materials that he would have found there are several lists of Atget negatives that Abbott printed in the early 1930s for the Julien Levy Gallery, as well as the name of the woman who ended up with 1/8th of the proceeds from the Museum of Modern Art sale for lending Abbott the money to acquire the Atget collection in the first place. Surely, Worswick would have found this information worth reporting.

In addition, Worswick neglected several important secondary sources of information about Abbott and Atget. Amazon.com customers might also want to investigate Abigail Solomon-Godeau's essay, "Canon Fodder: Authoring Eugene Atget," in Photography at the Dock (1991), Bonnie Yochelson's essay for Berenice Abbott: Changing New York (1997), and Peter Barr's chapter on Abbott and Atget in his 1997 Ph.D. dissertation "Becoming Documentary: Berenice Abbott's Photographs 1925-1939." ... Read more